'The Game' (Story Code 206) by Brannon Braga Story by Susan Sackett, Fred Bronson and Brannon Braga

Commander Riker is enjoying a holiday on the pleasure planet Risa in the company of a beautiful woman named Etana; she introduces him to an electronic game, which gives the player a pleasurable sensation as a reward for achieving its goal. Returning to the U.S.S. Enterprise, Riker passes the game on to Counselor Troi. Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher, on holiday from Starfleet Academy, arrives on board the ship and finds that the crew have thrown him a surprise party; he meets an attractive young crewmember, Ensign Robin Lefler, and makes a date to have dinner with her later. Meanwhile, Troi has given the game to Doctor Crusher, who then asks Lieutenant Data to help with a problem in Sickbay; however, when the android arrives, the doctor, Riker and Troi attack and deactivate him. Riker then introduces Lieutenant LaForge to the game. When Wesley visits his mother in her quarters, he becomes concerned at her addiction to the game, and refuses her offer to try it for himself. At dinner, Wesley and Robin note with growing alarm that the game is increasing in popularity amongst the crew. They decide to examine one of the devices, and find that it chemically affects the player’s brain, causing them to become physiologically addicted and interrupting their higher reasoning processes. Wesley informs Picard of his discovery, but is unaware that the captain has also succumbed to the appeal of the game. He and Robin then realise that Data's ‘malfunction’ coincided with the first appearance of the game - meaning that someone deliberately introduced the device in order to take over the Enterprise - and the effects of the game could soon threaten the entire Federation…

Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Thomas Riker), LeVar Burton (Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Security Chief Lieutenant Worf), Gates McFadden (Doctor Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Councelor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lieutenant Commander Data), Ashley Judd (Ensign Robin Lefler), Katherine Moffat (Etana Jol), Colm Meaney (Transporter Chief Miles O’Brien), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Alyssa Ogawa), Wil Wheaton (Ensign Wesley Crusher), Diane M. Hurley (Woman), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

Directed by Corey Allen
Co-Produced by Joe Menosky, Ronald D. Moore and Peter Lauritson
Produced by David Livingston
Executive Producer Michael Piller, Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry

TX:
28th October, 1991

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Thomas Riker, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Geordi La Forge, Security Chief Lieutenant Worf, Doctor Beverly Crusher, Councelor Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Data, Transporter Chief Miles O’Brien, Ensign Ro Laren and Ensign Wesley Crusher